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Autoblog Minute: UAW and FCA avoid strike, Clarkson teases new show

FCA avoids a worker strike, a former Top Gear host teases us with a picture from Amazon's new car show, and Toyota predicts autonomous cars by 2020. Autoblog senior editor Greg Migliore reports on this edition of Autoblog Minute Weekly Recap. Show full video transcript text [00:00:00] FCA avoids a worker strike, a former Top Gear host teases us with a picture from Amazon's new car show, and Toyota predicts autonomous cars by 2020. I'm senior editor Greg Migliore and this is your Autoblog Minute Weekly Recap. A UAW strike of FCA was avoided thanks to a zero-hour tentative agreement reached this week. Worker concerns that were renegotiated in the new [00:00:30] deal include adjustments to the two-tier wage scale, health care costs, and production outsourcing. Now check-in with Autoblog as we update our reports on this evolving story. Shooting began on Amazon Prime's new automotive show starring the former Top Gear crew. That's Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May. Now Clarkson threw out a tweet from day one of filming on location at Algarve Motor Park in Portugal. The picture features the show's [00:01:00] three stars and crew posing with the holy trinity of hyper cars. That's a McLaren P1, a Ferrari LaFerrari, and a Porsche 918 Spyder. This Prime show is being called Gear Knobs though the name is unofficial. Now if a tweet is any indication of what we can expect, who cares what it's called this is gonna be awesome. (Eds Note: Clarkson tweeted Friday that the show will not be called Gear Knobs.) Toyota predicts drivers could be obsolete on highways as early as 2020, with technology dubbed the Toyota Highway Teammate or THT. Toyota is using a modified [00:01:30] Lexus GS to show what this is capable of. THT is already able to create a driverless freeway car that's capable of changing lanes, making passes and taking curves. Plus, it can keep safe distances from other vehicles. Toyota is currently testing this on Tokyo's Shuto Expressway. Those are the highlights from the week that was. Be sure to check out my full recap this Saturday. And I'll have some added insight on the BMW M4 GTS. For Autoblog, I'm Greg Migliore. [00:02:00] Show Logo Autoblog Minute is a short-form video news series reporting on all things automotive. Each segment offers a quick and clear picture of what's happening in the automotive industry from the perspective of Autoblog's expert editorial staff, auto executives, and industry professionals.

Toyota's Copen GR Sport is a tiny, racy roadster

In its home market, Toyota has a designated sport brand called GR, which is meant to invoke Toyota's Gazoo Racing division. It has three tiers of sportiness: the entry-level GR Sport, GR, and all-out range-topping GRMN. Ahead of the Tokyo Motor Show, Toyota announced it is adding to its GR Sport lineup a new mini convertible called the Copen GR Sport. Toyota pulled the Copen from Daihatsu's bank of cool minicars. Diahatsu announced its own Copen GR Sport at the Tokyo Auto Salon in early 2019. Now Toyota will sell its own hotted-up version of the tiny roadster. Toyota Gazoo Racing tweaked the new model and gave it sportier equipment and a visual update inside and out. First, let's talk basic stats. The Copen GR Sport weighs roughly 2,000 pounds and has a 0.66-liter turbocharged engine that makes 63 horsepower at 6,400 rpm and 68 lb-ft of torque at 3,200 rpm. It's front-wheel drive and is available with a five-speed manual or a continuously variable transmission (CVT) with seven-speed Super Active Shift and paddle shifters. Toyota left the powertrain alone and chose to focus on body rigidity and suspension tuning. The Copen GR Sport has specific shock absorbers, updated spring rates, retuned power steering, a new front brace, and a redesigned center brace.  Toyota made the Copen a bit more visually aggressive as well. It has a unique front bumper with side air intakes, a larger front grille, and a rear bumper with a new diffuser look. It also comes with matte gray BBS forged-aluminum wheels, LED headlights, LED fog lights, and LED taillights. GR Sport emblems on the front, side, and rear assure passers-by this is not a regular Copen. In total, eight exterior colors are available, as are multiple color options for the roof. The black interior was spruced up with Recaro sport seats with GR embroidery, a MOMO leather-wrapped steering wheel with the GR emblem, piano black accents, and a new GR instrument cluster with red accents. Unfortunately, the pint-sized roadster is only available in Japan.

Toyota's Texas move could boost state's economy by $7.2B in 10 years

They say everything is bigger in Texas, and apparently that includes the Toyota's effect on the economy. The giant Japanese automaker's new headquarters in Plano, TX, will add an estimated $7.2 billion to the state over the next 10 years, according to a new study commissioned by the city and cited by Bloomberg.
The benefits appear to be an absolute steal compared to the direct incentives that Plano and the state are giving Toyota. The report finds that by the time the automaker's campus is complete in 2018, it could have 3,650 full-time workers there at an average salary of $104,000. The city has prepared $6.75 million in grants, plus property tax discounts, according to Bloomberg. In addition to that, the state is offering the business $40 million in incentives from its Texas Enterprise Fund. This is still a fraction of what Toyota is estimated to bring in.
Toyota announced in April that it would move its US operations to Plano after being headquartered in California since 1957. The move affects thousands of employees from the sales and engineering divisions. The first workers will arrive there this fall, but Toyota will eventually have a whole campus in Plano by late 2017. The move is expected to save it huge amounts in taxation and offer employees a lower cost of living. Toyota North America CEO Jim Lentz also says that the Texas location puts the headquarters closer to more of the business' factories in the south. Texas certainly appears to be showing it some southern hospitality.